Day Twenty Seven - Colorado, Grand Lake, Eisenhower Tunnel + Berthoud Pass

We got a really good nights sleep - sleeping a bit late to 6:30 AM. When we went to load the bikes, the covers were damp and it was pretty cloudy so the chances of rain appeared quite good. We finished loading with a few sprinkles then had breakfast, got gas and hit the road at 7:40 AM. It was 51 degrees so we both had an extra layer on, mine being my rain jacket - just in case.

Day 27 track log

Our initial leg was a 20 mile pull east on I-80. As we merged onto I-80 from the ramp we could see the rain clouds heavy ahead. I knew we'd be turning south and away from the rain in 20 miles, but wasn't at all sure we wouldn't run into the storm first. Here was the view we had heading down I-80.

I-80 eastbound from Rawlins, WY

The closer to the exit we got, the worse it looked. We finally made the exit, and here's a photo I took just after we got onto Hwy 130.

How do you spell close?

Note the wet road and the rain off to the left on the photo above. I can't believe we were once again so close yet get off without getting wet! We would continue south on 130 for 37 miles to get to our first waypoint for today. Encampment, WY - the "e" in Airheads for the Team Strange Airheads 30 tour.

Encampment, WY - The "e" in Airheads

From here, we would continue on Hwy 230 for another 28 miles to get to the Colorado Border for our I've Been Everywhere Tour. The road so far was unremarkable. Mostly straight, very sparsely traveled with OK scenery, but nothing really spectacular.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Colorado

Ever since we left the hotel this morning, I have only had sound in one ear. While we were stopped at the border, I managed to trace the problem down to a broken wire in my main J&M harness. Nothing I can do about it for now, but in the evening I can access the passenger cable and use that for a temporary fix.

Here's a perspective - The view from the border back into Wyoming

View back into Wyoming

And the view ahead into Colorado

View ahead into Colorado

Just 10 more miles down the road we would turn southwesterly onto CO-127. I got the following shot from the saddle - behind me.

Southeast bound on CO-127

Thirteen miles further down the road we would come into the town of Walden and we spotted a cafe with a bunch of locals sitting out front so we pulled in for a coffee break. I didn't get any pictures but we liked it enough that since tomorrow's route comes back this way we might make it our breakfast stop. We blew off 40 minutes here and I shed my rain jacket, even though the temp was still only 56 degrees. It wasn't warming up very fast this morning, but maybe that's because we have been steadily gaining elevation and are now at near 8,000 ft.

From Walden, we would head out still southeasterly on Hwy 14. Now, 14 wasn't too spectacular - it was pretty straight, at least on this stretch of it, but it did roll up and down some hills at the photo below shows.

Hwy 14 out of Walden CO

We would run 32 miles on 14 to get us down to US-40 but as we got down 14 it started to get to be more fun with some nice sweeping turns as it meandered its way to meet up with US-40.

At US-40 we would turn southerly for another 30 mile run down into Kremmeling. This road had a bit more character than 14 did and we enjoyed it some until we got stuck behind a pickup towing a trailer who held up a line of 8 vehicles, including us - for several miles. Eventually, we managed to pick them off one by one and finally work past the trailer who appeared to have absolutely no clue. Oh well, picking them off was more fun than staying stuck behind! By the time we got by the trailer, the road had straightened out some and I got this photo shot from the saddle to my rear.

US-40 - about 6 miles north of Kremmling CO

By the time we rolled into Kremmling, I suggested to Larry that maybe he wanted to remove his liner - since he didn't take it off back in Walden. It had finally risen in temperature all the way up to a whopping 60!

From here we headed out of town south on CO-9 for another 37 mile pull which would get us down to I-70 so we could go for the Eisenhower Tunnel. Here's a shot I took shortly after getting onto 9 out of Kremmling. Note the skies...

CO-9 - south of Kremmling CO

CO-9 was like much of the roads today, but maybe a bit more congested. It did take us through the Arapaho National Forest. One thing I forgot to mention about all the roads today so far in Colorado - the prarie dogs - little creatures ranging in size from as small as a chipmunk to as large as a small squirrel - darting across the roads and playing russian roulette with any vehicles happening to be running by at the time. I don't think I hit any, but there were a few close calls. And, there were plenty of their not so lucky friends who hadn't made it littering the road. Maybe that's what this hawk we saw was chasing as he swooped in from the left directly in front of the pickup in front of me. The hawk nearly got hit by the pickup, but managed to veer up and back to the left just in the nick of time. After all this excitement, we rolled into Silverthorne and since it was noon local time decided to hit a cafe for lunch. I found one right on our route and just a quarter mile before we would turn onto I-70.

After a hearty meal of homemade chicken & rice soup and a half club sandwich (Larry had the soup without the sandwich) we mounted back up and got onto I-70. We had about an 8 mile run to get the the twin tunnels. We really weren't sure exactly what our options for stopping to get photos would be so we approached the tunnel entrances from the slow lane. Fortunately the traffic wasn't so heavy as to force us into approaching too fast. We did find a pull of area just near the entrance and stopped to set up to take our photos. Some DOT guy appeared out of nowhere to see if we needed assistance. We told him what we were doing and he offered to take the photos for us!. It wasn't an ideal set up as the tunnel we needed was the Eisenhower - which is the norther side tunnel and we were on the southern side of the road - nearer the Johnson Tunnel entrance. You can however see the tunnel name if you look at the photo closely. That's also why I made this photo full size.

Presidential Tour - Eisenhower Tunnel Bonus

After the photo we went through the Johnson tunnel and the road after that was very rough in spots. In fact, there had been a warning sign before the tunnel entrance for motorcycles to use the left lane because of road damage. We had run over some wet road leading up to here and more as we exited the tunnel. There clearly was some rain in the area, but we continued to be lucky to not actually be where it was at any given time. We continued up I-70 towards our exit to get onto US-40 again - only this time we would be heading north. There was an ominous dark cloud off to our left that I was sure we were finally going to face...

As we headed up US-40 from I-70 here's a shot I got showing what we were looking at.

US-40 northbound from I-70 and Empire CO

It REALLY looked like we were going to find a way to run into this storm! As we headed up this road (US-40) we were starting a climb that would take us up across Berthoud Pass at an elevation of 11,353 ft. We were already at 9500 ft when the photo above was taken. Here's what the track looks like for this section of the ride.

Track for Berthoud Pass crossing

 In addition to the squiggly lines that fold back on themselves a number of times, also note how we would be heading almost dead west and then turn sharply north...

When we got to the top of Berthoud Pass here's what it looked like.

See the dark clouds - now BEHIND us!

 My God how can we be so lucky, We were headed right into that storm, but then the road turned us out of it at the very last second!

Been There - Done That!

 And now for the descent down the other side Here's what the road down looks like from the peak.

Zoomed in so you can see the road winding down the mountain

And here's what the elevation profile of this pass crossing looks like.

The profile above covers from where we got off I-70 onto US-40 and goes all the way to Winter Park. The track shown as "Track for Berthoud Pass crossing" shows about 5 miles less than this profile covers.

Needless to say this part of the ride was probably the most exciting of the day. Going up we had passing lanes 90% of the way so slow traffic didn't hold us up. Going down we weren't so blessed so we did get held up some until we were able to pass but it was still way more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

The next section of road took us up by the Winter Park Ski area and then the towns of Fraser and Tabernash all of which had 30 MPH speed limits and traffic to prove it, but it was busy for the summer - I cannot imagine how it is in the winter time! We finally rolled into Granby at about 2:20 PM. From here we would head northeast on US-34 up to Grand Lake to get our photo for the I've Been Everywhere tour.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Grand Lake

After this shot we needed to back track to Granby then go west on US-40 to get to our hotel in Hot Sulphur Springs. This wasn't directly on our original route, but being in vacation season has had getting hotels way more work that we are used to doing. Larry's had to slave over his computer each night looking for rooms, making reservations, and altering our routes to match - all this while I am writing the blog. We really have packed days with little time left over!

We got into our hotel, unloaded and then I managed to make the temporary repair to my audio system, We then got gas and got back to the hotel just before the skies opened up for a short shower. We managed to get out to walk to dinner and then after we got back it rained some more - this time with some good thunder and lightning. We are just hoping it's all gone before its time to leave in the morning!/

Today's Stats: 321.3 miles in 7:39 elapsed time, 5:46 saddle time